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Studies & Degrees in Project Management

Project management is the discipline of planning, organising and controlling a piece of work that has a defined result, a budget and an end date. The Association for Project Management (APM) in the United Kingdom defines it as the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge and experience to achieve specific project objectives. What separates it from general management is that a project has a final deliverable and a finite timespan, while the operations of an organisation go on continuously.

Students learn to define the scope and requirements of a project, build schedules and budgets, manage risk, quality and change, deal with contracts and suppliers, and lead a team and its stakeholders. The Project Management MSc of Lancaster University, for example, bases its curriculum on the APM Body of Knowledge and on approaches such as Agile, programme management and managing organisational change.

Qualifications and levels

Project management is taught mainly at master's level and through professional certificates, often to graduates in engineering, computing or business.

  • Bachelor's level. A full bachelor's degree in project management is uncommon. The subject is usually a specialisation or a group of modules inside a business, engineering or computing degree.
  • Master's degrees. The Lancaster MSc lasts one year full time. It asks for a 2:2 honours degree (UK or equivalent) in any subject and an IELTS Academic score of at least 6.5 overall. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University offers an online Master of Science in Project Management of 30 credits, accredited by the Global Accreditation Center (GAC) of the Project Management Institute (PMI).
  • Spain. Official university degrees have a fixed structure: a bachelor's degree (grado) of 240 ECTS credits and master's degrees of 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits. The Máster en Dirección de Proyectos of the Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (EHU), taught at the engineering school in Bilbao, has 90 credits over one and a half academic years. It is taught in Spanish and English in blended mode, on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, offers 30 places and lists an indicative price of €3,000. The Universidad Europea de Madrid lists an official master's in project management of 60 ECTS credits and nine months, taught on campus in Alcobendas in Spanish or English.
  • Universities' own programmes. Spanish universities also offer a Máster de Formación Permanente of 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits, which the law classes as a university's own qualification (título propio), and business schools run their own master's programmes. Ask each school what recognition its qualification has.
  • Professional certification. The best-known certificates come from professional bodies: the Project Management Professional (PMP) of the PMI, the qualifications of the APM, and the four-level certification scheme of the International Project Management Association (IPMA).

Where to study project management

SpainExchange lists 51 active schools for project management. Spain has 24 and the United States 13, followed by the United Kingdom with three and Denmark and Zambia with two each. Australia, Italy, Greece, Austria, Singapore, Russia and Slovenia have one each.

In Spain the list includes public universities such as the EHU, the Universidad de Alcalá, the Universidad de La Rioja and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, private universities such as the Universidad Europea de Madrid and the Universidad Camilo José Cela, and business schools such as EAE Business School and ESDEN Business School. Outside Spain it includes Lancaster University and Cranfield University in the United Kingdom, the University of Texas at Austin and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the United States, VIA University College in Denmark and the Fachhochschule Salzburg in Austria.

Programmes in Spain are taught mostly in Spanish, and some in Spanish and English. Check the language, the timetable and the type of qualification of each programme before applying.

Careers

Graduates work as project managers, project coordinators, planners and members of a project management office (PMO), and later as programme or portfolio managers.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) describes project management specialists as the people who coordinate the budget, schedule, staffing and other details of a project. It counted about 1.09 million such jobs in the United States in 2025 and projects employment to grow 7 percent from 2025 to 2035. According to the BLS, these specialists typically need a bachelor's degree, which may be in a variety of fields, and some employers prefer a degree in a technical field related to their industry. Certification is not always required, but it demonstrates competency to clients and employers.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a specific bachelor's degree to study a master's in project management?

Often not. Lancaster University, for example, accepts a 2:2 honours degree or equivalent in any subject for its MSc.

How long does a master's in project management take?

It depends on the number of credits. In Spain official master's degrees have 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits: the one at the Universidad Europea de Madrid has 60 ECTS credits and lasts nine months, and the one at the EHU has 90 credits and lasts one and a half academic years.

Is a professional certificate the same as a degree?

No. Certificates such as the PMP of the PMI or the IPMA levels are awarded by professional bodies, not by universities. The BLS notes that certification is not always required but shows competency to employers.